With Marriott having just made the switch from Pepsi to Coca-Cola after 34 years, I can’t help but be reminded of another soda story involving Marriott, which many people may not be familiar with.
In this post:
The surprising non-hotel history of Marriott
Most people probably don’t know much about how Marriott was founded, other than knowing of Bill Marriott (formally “John Willard,” which is where the JW Marriott brand comes from), the Mormon connection, and that the first hotel opened in the 1950s.
There’s a lot more to Marriott’s history that might surprise people, and the below ~12 minute video sharing the history of how Marriott started is quite interesting.
Okay, to be honest I find the narration interesting, while the generic images used throughout the video take away from it a bit, though I can appreciate the challenges. If you have the time, I’d recommend giving the below video a watch.
From root beer stand to world’s largest hotel group
As you may have learned above, Marriott really started as an A&W Root Beer Stand, and did airline catering before it ever opened a hotel. To briefly summarize how Bill Marriott got into the hotel business:
- Bill Marriott was born in 1900 in Marriott, Utah, and his parents were sheep herders
- Bill Marriott was always entrepreneurial, started working for his dad at the age of eight, and started his own business at the age of 13; there were lots of ups and downs, but we’ll fast forward to how Marriott started
- In 1927, Bill Marriott and his wife opened the first A&W Root Beer franchise in Washington DC; they had noticed the popularity of root beer stands elsewhere, and thought it would do well in DC
- While it worked great at first during hot summer months, they realized that in the winter it wasn’t as popular; they decided to add warm items to the menu in winter months, and branded the business as “Hot Shoppes”
- In 1928, Bill Marriott opened two more Hot Shoppes, and kept growing from there
- In 1936, Hot Shoppes approached airlines about the prospect of catering boxed lunches on planes, which had previously never been done before; airlines were interested, and soon enough the company was catering inflight meals at Hoover Airport in Washington DC
- In 1953, Hot Shoppes went public, and stock sold out within two hours of trading
- In 1957, Bill Marriott shifted into the hotel business, and opened the first motor hotel (motel) in Arlington, Virginia
- In 1959, the second Marriott property opened, which was the Key Bridge Marriott
- From there Marriott continued to grow to what it is today — the world’s biggest hotel group
Bottom line
Most people don’t realize that Marriott started as a root beer stand, then turned into a restaurant serving hot food, and then turned into an airline catering company. Hotels only came into the picture decades later.
What a fascinating and inspiring story. While Marriott is now the world’s largest hotel group, I can’t help but feel like the innovation that got Marriott to where it is today is sorely lacking at this point, and has been for a long time.
Did you know this aspect of Marriott’s history?
As a teenager I remember visiting Washington DC on a family trip and staying at a Marriott as my father received a discount from his corporation as it had business with the Teamsters.
Apparently the Teamsters had helped Marriott with finance.
That was 1974.
Did you know in those days Coke-Cola had 3.5 ounces of cocaine in it? Presumably root beer had a kick too.
3.5 ounces of Cocaine? Really?..... Ha Ha Ha Ha... Do you have any idea how dead you would be from 1/8th of an ounce of Cocaine if ingested altogether? I think you might want to check that figure.
I knew about this but interesting to revisit it. Sadly it also reminds how far Marriott has declined from even a decade ago. They were once a very fine company.
Marriott's Great America theme park in Silicon Valley in California had a "replica" Hot Shoppe.
Great root beer floats in chilled mugs!
When I was a kid in late 1950's early 1960's my grandparents lived in DC and I spent part of each summer there. They always took me to Hot Shoppes.
" Thermo Dine" ! ... What an appetizing name for inflight cuisine... lol
Funny how it has now come full circle with pax bringing their own food onboard again instead of relying on overpriced, airline junk food, if it's even offered at all.... The race to the bottom continues....
I grew up in Bethesda. Home of the Marriotts and the company they built. The first office was menu and food development. Suddenly one day that ended and workers were transferred to the next building for hotel development. A few years ago a new location was selected and by the time it was completed 800 people were laid off. That was customer service as what you don't own, you don't need to service.
So...
I grew up in Bethesda. Home of the Marriotts and the company they built. The first office was menu and food development. Suddenly one day that ended and workers were transferred to the next building for hotel development. A few years ago a new location was selected and by the time it was completed 800 people were laid off. That was customer service as what you don't own, you don't need to service.
So that's the corporate history in a nutshell. Wish food service was more profitable. They were great with it.
JW Jr. sponsored my Junior Achievement program at the Bethesda HQ. We visited Sr. in his office on the 6th floor with a working fireplace. There was an entire floor of architects and engineers that designed hotels. The lower level contained a Roy Roger's test kitchen and hotel room mockups. As I understand it, in the early 80s, Sr or Jr visited every property annually. A different time...
And my grandparents took us to the Hot Shoppes in Wheaton.
Good times!
If my memory is correct that first Marriott in Arlington was known as the Twin Bridges Marriott. Hot Shoppes had a great burger called the Mighty Mo.
Don't forget the Orange Freeze
I actually learned about this a week ago at a Marriott timeshare presentation. Which now has me wondering, did Ben just stumble upon/get forwarded this Youtube video or did Ben just go through a Marriott timeshare presentation ;p
Mormons. Let me tell you a story.
You can't drink coffee.
But you can drink caffeinated cola.
They say because coffee is hot.
But hot chocolate is ok.
What about nicotine free vape?
Probably less addictive than cola caffeine but not ok?
If your going to arbitrary ban something harmful, why not sugar.
I've heard many Mormons are addicted to sugar.
But they can't!!
LDS was built on sugar money....
Mormons. Let me tell you a story.
You can't drink coffee.
But you can drink caffeinated cola.
They say because coffee is hot.
But hot chocolate is ok.
What about nicotine free vape?
Probably less addictive than cola caffeine but not ok?
If your going to arbitrary ban something harmful, why not sugar.
I've heard many Mormons are addicted to sugar.
But they can't!!
LDS was built on sugar money. At one point they controlled the entire west coast sugar market.
This is like Church of Escobar saying cocain is legal because we sell them.
Propaganda works.
That's why NSA is keeping tabs on people with their server city in Utah.
I have no idea of why someone would conflate the history of a hotel chain to the lack of production in our country. Not to mention both political parties created this situation, including hero Bernie Sanders. I hear voices in the 1980s warning against giving our industry away and he was not one of them.
Just learned Hoover Airport later became the site of the Pentagon.
Ehem, it was Washington-Hoover Airport, Mr. Ohio. There was a separate Washington Airport, which merged with Hoover Field in 1933 (yes, named after the Republican and Depression-era President and former Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, who was/is quite unpopular... *cough*)
I thought it was named after J Edgar. Relieved to hear I was wrong.
Yeah, not much better, but... no, not the former FBI director. The two Hoovers were not related, but they were friends and professional acquaintences, and supposedly they frequently forwarded misdirected mail to each other. Bah!
https://hoover.blogs.archives.gov/2015/11/10/a-tale-of-two-hoovers/
I just googled Hot Shoppes menus from the olden days. There's some kooky stuff such as this from September 26th, 1943: "Baked Swordfish Steak, Mushroom Sauce" with an appetizer such as Chilled Papaya Juice, a side such as Celery Cabbage with Russian Dressing, a dessert such as Fresh Apple Sauce with Whipped Cream and Cake Fingers and a beverage all for 55 cents....on the Children's Menu!
Don't give the menu planners at United any ideas....
Now, pretty much all we have is the grift economy. No real goods being produced.
Yeah, we're overdue for a reckoning... just in time for 2029... 100 years since...